


Deeper Shades of Blue

by bluflamingo



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, College, F/F, Friends to Lovers, Urban Fantasy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-04
Updated: 2020-06-04
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:08:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24541336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluflamingo/pseuds/bluflamingo
Summary: April knew, when she came to Samwell, that it would be tough to make the switch, her magic rooted to her home-town for 18 years. The disconnect itches at her like a rash... and that's before she develops a huge crush on her volleyball partner.
Relationships: April/March (Check Please!)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 19
Collections: OMGCP Reverse Bang 2020





	Deeper Shades of Blue

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Khashana](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Khashana/gifts).



> Written for an absolutely gorgeous moodboard by khashanakalashtar
> 
> NB: Julie Chu and Caroline Oullette both appear as college professors, if the real-person aspect will be an issue for you.

April knew, when she came to Samwell, that it would be tough. She's lived in Green Bay her entire life, her magic rooted into the streets of the city since before she was even born.

"You should know," her mom said, when Samwell offered her a volleyball scholarship that she was pretty sure she was going to take, "That some witches just can't manage the change, when they move."

April knew that – her high school math teacher didn't even last till Christmas before she had to go back to Hawaii, the different spirit of Green Bay too much for her magic to cope with. Samwell, though, felt like home when she went to visit the campus, her magic echoing in the spark of the town and the campus. "And it's near the water," she reminded her mom, every time it came up. Not that April was particularly water aligned, but water was a big part of the spirit of Green Bay, and being close to water should have made the switch easier.

Except that Samwell's near a completely different body of water, an ocean, not a lake, and it itches at April like a rash that she can't quite scratch.

"Seriously," her roommate, Katy, says, the third time that April blow out the bulb in her desk lamp. She's smiling as she says it, a little rueful but not too annoyed, which helps, but they've only been roommates for two weeks. Katy's probably going to get annoyed if this keeps happening.

"Sorry," April says, digging out the box of spare bulbs that now lives in her closet. "I'll fix it."

*

"It's awkward," she tells March while they're stretching before practice. March is, no lie, totally awesome, and April's desperately hoping that they get partnered up permanently. They play so well together, between March's height and April's speed, they get on great outside of volleyball, and also, March is super-gorgeous. April just wants to, like, touch her boobs and wake up with March's hair in her face. 

"What?" she says, realizing that March is talking to her and she has, again, gotten distracted by how March's green eyes are exactly the color of the forests outside town.

March just grins, like maybe she knows what April's thinking. April's pretty sure she doesn't – March doesn't feel like wixen to her, and she's never heard of someone who can read minds as their magic. She's not sure what March's magic is, not yet. March hasn't told her, and April, like all kids, had it drummed into her in kindergarten that it's rude to ask.

She wants to though.

And she's stopped listening, again. "Sorry," she says, feeling her face go hot. 

March just laughs, throws an arm over April's shoulders and hugs her in close like April won't get distracted all over again by being that close to her boobs.

*

Part of why April picked Samwell was that they offered a chance to major in sports magic, one of only twelve colleges in the whole of the US that does. She ninety percent sure that's what she wants to do, since it's not really possible to make a living as a pro female volleyball player – which doubly sucks when the Swallow is all about how two of last year's Samwell men's hockey team got signed to pro contracts and did we mention that new captain Jack Zimmermann will almost certainly go on to play pro as well?

Before she can even think about majoring, though, she has to get a handle on her magic. It's like she's lost touch with the echo of familiarity that she felt when she visited the campus. It's still there, she just can't figure out how link her own magic into it.

"I feel like one of those kids who doesn't get magic until they go through puberty," she complains to March, the two of them sharing a cookie sandwich at Annie's after the ten mile run round campus that's become a twice weekly routine for the two of them. "Like, who gets to college still setting stuff on fire?"

"You said it was more like some sparks," March says, patting April's hand so that she has to take a deep breath not to throw out a literal expression of the heat April feels when March touches her. 

"Heat and light are my affinities," April says. "It's like, every time I try to use it, magic just goes everywhere."

"Like that one shower in the locker room," March offers, laughing a bit.

"Yes," April says drily. "Because my magic's just like a shower that can't decide if it wants to be trickle or a freaking deluge. Thanks a lot."

"Any time," March says cheerfully, and April can't help laughing along with her. 

*

April doesn't really have time between class and volleyball and homework, but she's had a part-time job since she started babysitting when she was fourteen, so she puts in an application at the spell store on campus. It's mostly selling, not creating, but she dials down her natural instinct to sarcasm for the interview, and doesn't blow anything up when the manager asks her to create a simple potion to help with memorization. 

"Two evenings and one four-hour shift at the weekend," the manager, Trish, offers. "Extra shifts if you want them, and if you need time off, it's your responsibility to find someone to cover you."

Trish, a plump, red-headed woman in her mid-forties, is rooted into Samwell like she's been there a thousand years. Just being near her makes April feel like she's got a better handle on her own magic. "Sounds great," she says. "Thank you."

The spell store's next to the book store, so it's always busy, between freshmen picking up ready-made spells for their Intro to Magic Craft classes, upperclassmen and professors buying materials for their own spells and charm-work, and, as they get further into the semester, a steady stream of people wanting charms for concentration and spells to pull all-nighters and talismans against being caught cheating.

"It's like they don't even realize we've got a lease from the university," April complains to March when she drops by at the end of April's Thursday evening shift. Sammi, the senior who closes up on April's shifts, is in the back working on a programming exercise that's basically just a series of meaningless symbols, as far as April can tell. She has no idea why any self-respecting wix would pick computer science of all things, but Sammi says they want to get a job with a gaming company, so it's kind of necessary. "Like the administration is going to just let us sell something that lets people cheat without saying anything?"

"You kids, get off my lawn," March teases, shaking her fist at the sky and everything. "You need a hug?"

"Yes," April says, sulking a bit as March wraps her up all warm and close, and keeps her there until Professor Oullette comes over to ask about her special order of crystals.

*

The volleyball team throw a house party for their captain's twenty-first. April came last in the team's suicides race at practice earlier in the week – what, she was running behind March, it's not fair to expect her to pay attention to where she's putting her feet – so she's instructed to come by early and help with the last of the decorations. Not that she really minds; she's been working on a spell to give paper flowers a few hours of real life, and the party is as good a time as any to try it out.

She's kneeling on the porch, twining one last rope of slightly lopsided tulips through the railings, when a voice behind her says, "Wow."

She knows March's voice anywhere, and of course she knows March will be dressed up for the party, but she's not expecting to turn around and find herself face to thigh with March's legs in the tightest black pants she's ever seen. Or, worse, to look up and find that March is wearing a fitted crop top, showing off her lean stomach and the curve of her breasts.

The jolt of arousal that shoots through her quite literally knocks April on her ass.

March, because she loves making April's life harder, just laughs and bends down to help April up. April personfully keeps her eyes on March's face, even though she knows she'd be able to see down the front of March's top, and there's no way March is wearing a bra under it. "Hi," she says, well aware of how breathless she sounds.

"Hi." March pulls April into a hug, then nudges her back and looks at the house. "This is the spell, right?" She reaches out to touch one of the flowers, her fingers brushing over the petals and sending sparks down April's spine. 

April nods, not trusting herself to speak. She reaches out, a little desperate for the steadying influence of the city's own magic, right there but still frustratingly too slippery for her to grasp. 

"That's amazing," March says, her voice low and soft, her fingers still brushing the petals, and April feels her own magic surge up, wild and out of control.

"I need to pee," she blurts out, and throws herself into the house, pushing through the growing crowd to the nearest bathroom, where she sticks both hands into the ice-cold water and breathes, deep and shaky. "Shit," she tells her reflection in the mirror.

*

Professor Chu, her Magic and Anatomy professor, is always saying that they can come to her with anything they're worried about. She's also a witch, though her affinities – cold and water, she told them in their first class – are the opposite of April's. Most importantly, though, is that she's married to Professor Caroline Oullette.

She tells April, when she emails, to come by at the start of office hours, and doesn't seem to care when April turns up fifteen minutes early. Professor Chu's office is pretty small, but she's still got two soft chairs tucked into the corner, a pot of tea steaming on the low table between them.

"Take a seat," she says, handing April a cup of tea without even checking if she wants it. The steam smells sweet and clean – April definitely wants it. "What do you want to talk about?"

April thinks, distantly, that she should probably at least pretend she has a question related to class, but Chu's a great teacher, and April's on track for a solid A in her class. "So, there's this girl," she says instead. Chu laughs a little, but nicely, and doesn't say anything while April blurts out the whole thing, her magic and March and how she can't connect to the city the way she wants to, just sips her tea and watches April with warm, gentle eyes. 

"That's a lot," she says when April finishes and, a little embarrassed that she talked that much about how fucking gorgeous March is to her professor, gulps some of her tea. "I assume you're well aware of the way that your feelings can play with your magic." 

April nods. "Professor Oullette talks about it all the time."

"I bet she does," Chu says, still smiling. "Then I have to ask – have you thought about saying something to your girl?"

April goes hot all over and shakes her head. She doesn't know how to explain why not, when March looks at her like she's waiting for April to ask, when April's know she was queer since she was twelve and first heard the word. It's not like she hasn't dated other girls, even asked them out. It's just – "I like her so much," she says. "What if…" 

What if what? March almost certainly won't say no, and if she does, they're best friends, April's fairly sure – it's not like March will drop her, or decide she doesn't want to be her partner on the team. She's pretty sure March has been hooking up with people, though April hasn't, but she doesn't really care about that – if March wants to see other people as well, April doesn't mind. Hell, she thinks about joining in sometimes, when she can't sleep and has her hand between her legs, and it's really hot.

"I can't help with your magic," Chu says gently. "Except to say that I'd guess the challenges with your magic are feeding into your nervousness about asking out your friend, and possibly the other way around as well. So, I think the answer might be that you'll have to say something."

April makes a face, even as the idea settles warm and safe in her chest. "I was afraid you'd say that."

Chu laughs. "Happy to help," she says as April gets up to leave. "Don't forget about next week's assignment."

*

April says, "Are you free on Friday night?" and, "How do you feel about Moroccan food?" and, "I'll pay," and March laughs and holds her hand and says, "Are you actually going to ask me out, or should I just say yes?"

They go to a Moroccan restaurant just off campus that April's never heard but has really good yelp reviews. She brings a real rose for March, turns it into a paper one in her hand to make her laugh.

The food's as good as the reviews said, and the candlelight makes it feel grown-up and intimate. April's looking forward to trying their baklava, but March rubs her foot against April's, asks if they can head back to campus, and April decides she can try Moroccan baklava some other time. 

March takes her hand as they walk, giving April a shy, sideways glance as she does it. The feel of April's big hand around her own settles something inside April that she'd stopped noticing felt wrong, and she thinks that Chu might have been right, this might actually help her make the connection to Samwell's energy that she needs to steady her own magic. 

"Want to come back to mine?" March asks when they get in sight of the dorms. Unlike April, she has a single, though it's barely bigger than Professor Chu's office and permanently shaded by a huge tree right outside the window.

"Are you asking me to come up and see your etchings?" April asks, delighted by the way it makes March flush. She goes up on her toes to kiss March's cheek. "Because the answer's yes, if you were worried."

March turns just enough to press a soft kiss to April's lips. "I was," she says, and has to tug on April's hand to get her moving again, April frozen in how it felt to have March kiss her. 

April keeps her hands to herself up the stairs to March's floor, and along the corridor to her room. March breaks first, pressing April back against the door and leaning in to kiss her, deep and intense, her hands slipping up into April's hair. April moans, kisses back, her own hands landing on the March's shoulders, the bare skin exposed by her halter top hot under April's palms.

It's overwhelming, kissing March. She's just taller enough than April that her hair falls over April's face, a curtain like a cocoon, holding the two of them together in a space where there's nothing but March's mouth against hers, March's hands in her hair and the way April fumbles for the tie of March's top, wanting more skin. 

March makes a soft noise, breaks the kiss. "Much as I want to," she says, mouth red and lipstick smudged from kissing, "If you're taking my top off, can we do it inside?"

April blinks – right, they're still in the dorm corridor, making out against the wall like… well, like two hot girls who really want to get naked. "Inside," she says firmly.

April lets March lock the door and turn on the bedside light, and that's all. She has to have more kisses, has to get March's top off so she can get her hands on March's perfect boobs, soft and full in her hands, March making the best sound when April sucks gently at her left nipple. April's maybe a bit obsessed with other girls' breasts, not that anyone's ever complained, and the fact that it's March's breasts she's touching makes it even better.

"You too?" March asks eventually, nibbling at April's ear in between the words. 

April obliges, hesitates with her hands on the button of her jeans as she meets March's gaze. "Yes," March says, intense like she's burning with it, and doesn't argue when April, down to only her panties, reaches for the zipper of March's skirt, just steps out of the fabric and tips April down to the narrow bed.

April loses track a bit then, caught up in March's mouth against hers, March's skin under her hands. She knows that March, at one point, says, "Lube," and has to search under the pillow for some, spilling it over both their hands when she finds it. She knows that they're both wet, that March's muscled thigh feels amazing pressed between her legs, and that when March takes her hand and guides it down, the thrill of excitement at getting to touch her there, getting to make her pant and curse and shake with it, feels almost as good as it does when she finally comes on her own fingers. 

It's not until later, her head resting on March's chest as they both come down from the high, that April realizes something. "Um," she says, not lifting her head.

March makes a sleepy noise in response, patting a little at April's back, where her hand is resting. 

"So, I mentioned that my magic's been a bit all over, right?" April continues. March makes another sleepy noise. "Because, um, I might have set your candles on fire."

"S'okay." March nuzzles into April's hair, which is very distracting. "Candle-light's nice."

"Not lit them. Set them on fire." April doesn't even need to look to know what's happened – she's a witch, she can see it in her mind's eye, the row of purple and pink candles at the back of March's desk all melted into a mess of colored wax, like they blew out from the middle. Which, thanks to April, they did.

She feels March move under her, then March says, "Oh. Yeah, okay. Could have been worse."

April laughs, kisses at the still sweaty skin under her mouth. "Want to see what else we can do?"

*

They hold hands on the walk to the dining hall the next morning and feed each other strawberries in a way that April would think was disgustingly cute if anyone else did it. Well, it's disgustingly cute when they do it too; she just doesn't care. 

They're nearly done eating when March says, "I might have an idea. About your magic."

"Okay," April says slowly. March is taking the compulsory Magical Theory 101 class with all the other freshmen, and she's interested in April's magic, what she can do and how, but she's never really expressed the kind of interest that would suggest she'd, what, do some research? 

"We'd need to go down to the ocean," March says. She's meeting April's eyes, but she looks like she's having to make herself do it. "It's nothing bad, I promise."

She clearly doesn't want to say anything more. April reaches for her hand, relieved when March lets her take it. "Practice isn't till four," she says. "I need to stop by my dorm for a change of clothes, but I'm up for a trip."

"You might want to comb your hair as well," March says, smiling, and just laughs when April kicks her ankle in revenge for that comment.

*

It's late September on the east coast, so the beach is quiet, just a few dog walkers and some families with kids wrapped up in scarves and hats. April lets March lead them further along the beach, until they're mostly hidden by a pile of rocks, just the two of them and the sound of the waves breaking gently on the beach.

"Trust me?" March asks, still holding April's hand.

"Of course," April says, no hesitation. It makes March flush, obviously pleased, and April has to kiss her, and all in all, they get a little distracted.

"Okay," March says when they manage to stop kissing. "You need to take your shoes off and come into the water with me."

April's very aware of how unpleasant that will be, but she said she trusted March and she meant it, so she just bends down to unlace her boots. 

The sand is cool under her bare feet, and the water is a freezing shock for all that she was expecting it. March takes a step further out, then turns and takes April's hands in hers, watching her.

Warmth flows through April like she's just stepped into a hot bath. "Oh," she says. "Are you – I didn't think you were a witch."

"I'm not." March shifts slightly, tightening her grip on April's hands. "I've got an affinity for water. It's not magic, but I can – if I'm in the water, I can sort of feel the magic. I had a tutor, she taught me how to use it to guide other people's magic. I don't really know how to explain it."

"No, I get it. Like a circuit board to guide electricity."

March laughs at her. "Sure, I guess."

They just stand there for a moment, holding hands in the freezing ocean that April can no longer feel. It's not better than sex was, but it's just as good in a different way.

"So what do we do?" she asks.

"Feel for the area's magic," March says quietly. She closes her eyes, and April does the same. The magic's right there, the same warm echo that she felt on her first visit to Samwell, and beneath it, March's joy and exuberance like a caress. April's never had to make a new connection to a place's magic, but it's like someone turned on all the lights after she spent the last few weeks fumbling in the dark. She reaches out, feels Samwell's magic reach back, and falls, breathless, into the connection to the place she's been trying to find since she got there.

It's perfect. The itchy feeling goes away, the tightness in her chest eases, every muscle relaxes, and she hears herself make a sound like a cat purring. She feels March's amusement alongside it, lets herself step forward into March's embrace.

"There you are," a voice says, one she doesn't know but recognizes anyway, and yeah, it's right – standing in the ocean in March's arms, here she is.


End file.
